motivation
 

It has been months since I have done any real quilting. and it is driving me nuts. I want to but just cant get motivated. I have 4 quilts in various stages of done-ness and I have three more that I would love to work on but I just don't have the motivation to sit down and sew. mostly because when I do both my kids (5 1/2 and almost 4) come in the dinning room where I sew and want to get into everything and are trying to talk to me. I love my kids but PLEASE let me have 5 min of quiet to get into the grove of sewing. I can't sit anymore and sew for long periods of time because of back and neck problems from a car accident last august. How do you guys get up and do it. Looking on here has helped get my flair for it back but how do you guys just get motivated to sew?

Sometimes I give myself a deadline or do a project for someone that must get done. Once I get going it is hard to stop!! Try sitting down after the kids go to bed. Good luck.

Sometimes I am not motivated for very long stretches of time. Nothing but me gets in my way. I would say just wait til the mood strikes and don't worry about it.

Today not motivated to do anything because I have a a
Ight problem and trying to work it out. So no sewing today but plenty of reading this site.

I allowed myself 30-45 mins of sewing every day after my kids were in bed. I always wound a bobbin when I was finished so I could start the next night with a full bobbin.

Maybe you need to treat yourself with a few hours of a babysitter, so you can work in peace! Is there a grandma that could take them for a day or two? I do that for my grandkids and the mom's are very recharged afterwards

I had to wait until my son was in school before I had time to quilt for more than an hour or two. It gets better.

When kids are that age, they are very time consuming. I couldn't think of quilting at that stage of my life. Mine are now 21 and 19, and I've just been quilting close to 2 yrs. Great that you've been able to do any sewing! The time you devote to your kids now is not lost; it's a precious thing and great investment. Your days of uninterrupted quilting time will come - even when you get both of them in school will help. Hang in there!

That's kids for you! They see you doing something fun and they want to do it. Let them sit in the same room as you, but find something for each of them to do. Tell them it is quiet time, they can color, play a video game, etc. Let them glue the snippets of fabric onto paper and make a picture, (if you can trust them to not make a mess with the glue). Something to keep them occupied, but each doing their own thing. Maybe a special toy that they can only play with at quiet time. Even if it is 10-15 minutes the first few times, extend the time daily. Good luck. They're only that age for a very little time!

I agree. You will be teaching your children how to work (or play) independently AND teaching them the importance and how to relax and enjoy a hobby.

When my kids were that age, I couldn't sew until they went to bed. (I had 4).

Perhaps you could schedule a "play date" and sew, and then repay the favor. We did that a lot when I was raising kids.

Don't be hard on yourself. Raising kids is hard work. It's easier to go to work than raise kids, IMHO. :)

Cherish the time with the wee ones. You never know what life may bring and if you spend time now, you are building a great relationship with them for the teen years. It's hard work and selfless to raise kids...especially when you want to do something else. I DO remember the stress and the need for "me" time. I used to have mine have a "quiet time" in the PM for about 45 minutes. They'd be in their rooms with books and I could sew or embroider. Then we'd all be recharged and ready to go for the rest of the day. By the way, they were readers before they ever went to school! Also, see if there are other moms that you can trust to trade a couple of hours of child care with now and then.

i have friends and grandma to watch the kids. its just thast when i have quiet time I just want to take a nap or clean up. my problem is finding the most vation to sit down and sew.

When my kids were little, I used to eagerly await nap time or better yet...bedtime & then have at it!! :-) At that point I had a corner spot out of the way that I could leave my machine set up on. It saved set up time gave me that few extra minutes to sew. As the old saying goes...inch by inch, everything's a cinch! ;-) I hope you get your quilting mojo back soon!

How about giving the kids something to do craft-wise, something age appropriate, that they can work on while you sew. They are kind of young to sit still for long spans of time, but shorter spans are doable. I don't have any children, but I find after being out of work over a year, and finally landing a full time job, I am just too tired at the end of the day to quilt. Weekends I plan to sew, but don't seem to do it. I don't have a sewing room, so I have take out my machine and put it away each time I use it. I think we all go through this at one time or another. Even when I don't sew, I still think about it. at some point the urge comes back. Don't give up!

When I was working and my kids were little I would get up early and sew for 30 minutes - but I had a room that I could close the door and leave my project waiting. If the kids were awake my son would be in the same room and use his dump truck to haul the scraps to the garbage. It is difficult to get any "me" time when you have little ones. They do grow up fast so treasure the time you do have with them.

When my kids were little I only did garment sewing, mostly for them. As they got into school it was easier to find a chance to work on it. I remember doing more crocheting with kids on my lap than sewing. But I have pictures of two of them in cute little matching tan leisure suits and four of them in purple and blue plaid western shirts (one of each for Dad too) that I made. Of course once they were in school there were costumes for school plays, the Christmas parade, etc - a pig, a lion, a candy cane, a donkey, an angel, a Wise Man, a shepherd, a poodle skirt, the list goes on.

Didn't start quilting until fairly recently. And there are weeks when I don't get near my sewing machine and days that it seems like I'm there nearly all day.

Some of it is other priorities and some is desire or lack thereof. I've always been a "have to be in the mood" crafter of whatever struck my fancy at the time. Of course some projects had deadlines so that entered the picture as well.

Good luck on getting motivated again!

Ok, if it's just motivation you need, try to find a quilt show to go to! Always works for me. Good luck. I never had time for anything like that when my kids were little, so you're doing better than I did in that respect. My only quiet time was spent gardening, because no one, husband included, would help me pull weeds, etc. As a result, none of them (kids are adults now) know the difference between a flower, weed, or rock. And they have recently expressed regrets for not helping/learning---all except one, lol!

Push yourself to do a minimum of 1/2 hour a day on the UFO's and I think the motivation will come.

Have a quilting friend come over for coffee (or tea) and just chat. It just may turn into the spark you need to get started again. I always do better with a friend!

When my oldest was beyond taking an afternoon nap, we still had 'quiet time' from 1-3 p.m. During this time she was expected to be in her room playing or reading quietly while her little sister napped and Mommy had some time to herself. Once both children were beyond napping, we kept quiet time, because it was good for them to have some down time during the day. it also taught them to entertain themselves and not need constant intervention.
My girls are 9 and 11 now, so official quiet time is long gone, but they've come to view their rooms as a place of solace and frequently head there themselves when they need to relax or get away during the day. I even notice them heading into the camper in the afternoons when we camp with other families, just to decompress a little bit.
I hope you'll give it a try. It has benefits for everyone involved.

Just remember they grow up fast. I didn't sew much when my kids were little. Now I wish they were still little. You can find a little me time if you work at it. Maybe when they're playing games or watching tv.

I use to quilt with my SIL's when we lived in Wisconsin. We would have weekend marathon sews and I got so much done and enjoyed the visiting....and help if I needed it. Then we moved 800 miles away. I was so worried that I wouldn't sew without the company of someone. So what I did to get me started was set the timer on my microwave for 1 hr. I would make myself go in the sewing room for 1 hr and I could come out when the timer went off...didn't take me long before I had to set the time to make myself QUIT!!

From your one post it sounds like you need the time more for taking care of yourself than quilting at this point....quilting is still more like work. Don't force yourself. It will become enjoyable again after you've given yourself time to rest and recharge. Like others have said, raising children is hard work.

I have to go along with others. Your kids are only this age for a little while .I wish I had spent more time with my kids when they were small but there was always something that needed to be done "perfectly" . 5 is old enough to spend time teaching to sew small things. Do they still make those cards that can be sewn with shoelaces? Maybe there is another mom that wants an hour or two to herself and you all can trade playdates. I know its harder today then it use to be.

I have 4 daughters (grown now). When they were little and I wanted to sew and have some "me time", I would wear an old dixie cup sailor's hat. When the hat was on, they were trained to think I was invisible and could only talk to me if there was an emergency. Most of the time they would run in and say: "Oh, mom has the hat on." There was one time though one's comment was: "Mom, I think this is an emergency- Kimmy cut her thumb off." They are all in their late 30's/early 40's and still talk about that hat.

Make something small - a pot holder or zipper bag. Something you can do quickly usually helps get me going again.

I started quilting when my kids were 6 & 7, and I was a single mom working & going to school full time. I set a strict bedtime for the kids (8 pm) and once they were in bed, that was my time to quilt. I would pick them up from day care around 5:30, take them home and do homework with them while cooking dinner, eat, they would bathe while I cleaned up the kitchen, and then we'd watch some tv for an hour or so before bedtime.

If I had been a SAHM, I would have set them up as someone else suggested with coloring books or some other quiet activity and set the kitchen timer for 30 min of "quiet time" during the day. What mother doesn't need a break every once in a while? I know I did, even though I worked outside the home. ;-)

Having little ones around can be challenging at times, been there, done that. Having a specific place for sewing helps, but you would be surprised at how much you can get done even when you only sew for 5-15 minutes at a time. It doesn't seem like it at the time, but the time does add up. So sorry about your accident, I can relate having recovered from a ruptured C-4-5 disk in my neck, 5 months of rehab, then 6 weeks ago had surgery for a torn rotator cuff in my right arm (of course-I'm right-handed). Today the Dr. told me I could get rid of the sling, so maybe I can start small in small amounts of time to get back in the groove. Hope you feel better soon.

Hi, Motivation is so often a problem, I have really bad back and neck pain and waiting for an operation that may-- or not help.Then my lovely husband created a sewing room for me-- very small but everything to hand, then I spent time on this forum and the fantastic help on youtube .I now feel a real buzz and motivated.Give your children time, they are precious but allocate time for yourself too. We have to make space for ourselves to help cope with what life gives us. Perhaps you could give the children something to do as you sew -- sort out your threads or scraps maybe. Keep cheerful, bless you, I'm 73 years old but creativity still continues. x

I am not sure it's motivation you need right now. I would suggest that your two children have quiet time while you sew. It's respecting your boundaries with your children. I know as mothers we love our children but they need to know that we have things we like to do without them. Even my grandchildren know that I have time for myself when they come over, they sit quietly and play by themselves. We do not need to entertain our children, they need to learn to entertain themselves. I am a mother of 4 and grandmother to many.

Don't push it, maybe it's time to rest!

I only have one kid but I wrk full time, so from when he was born until we moved and I had my sewing room I wasn't able to sew. then I would sew for a few minutes and felt like you I was lacking motivation. I think it is not motivation, you are probably tired. I would not push myself and would wait until the mojo comes back. Maybe what you can do is E-quilt, as I say it, go online, look for patterns and possible projects. Buy yourself a notebook and start a project, think of colors, patterns and measurements. Maybe if you have a stash, start building a kit for a quilt, cut one fabric at the time. Make sure you label everything so you dont forget. If you still dont feel like seating down. Choose another one.
Good luck. Also,while e-quilting (virtual cyber quilting) navegate through patchwork blogs, you will find very different interesting ideas out there. You will see.
Andrea

Letty I'm sorry to hear of your back and neck problems and especially sorry you will be having surgery than may or may not help, if it's a neurostimulator your thinking of having put in...DON'T do it. I had it done and 6 yes 6 surgeries later I am without the stim & in worse pain than I ever was before. I can only sit or stand for certain lengths of time. Of course the sitting is either quilting now or this board and the standing is doing what little I can around the house. You have my deepest prayers that your surgery will help you.

Thank you for your message,it is always an encouragement when someone understands what you are going through.Two consultants differ in what they think may help---neither sure how much help they can offer !! Well I tell you , the love of my husband and friends help most.Lately my hands have been so painful, but I thank the Lord that the pain is not coming from my hands, just trapped nerves in my back and neck, so I know it may improve when things move.I think if you have a craft you love it helps too. I'm sorry for the Mums out there who find it hard to have time for themselves to sew, hope they can pass on their love of creating to the children in time, that will prove a joy to them.Thanks again oldtisme, may you toofind some relief. Love Letty

I know the feeling, my kids are 22 months and 2 months! The best advice I can give, is in the morning before they get up, go and set up whatever project you want to work on (get bobbins wound, machine threaded ect). Then, impose a quiet time. Choose 1 hour a day (right after lunch works for my 22 mo old), and tell the kids that the only rule is that they must stay on their beds. Let them take a few toys, a book, whatever. Separate them if you have to by putting one kid on your bed or maybe on separate couches? Whatever works in your house. Then quilt for that hour!

My kids are all boys and stair step. Until recently, they were 9,10 and 11 and now they are 9, 11 and 12 for a few months. My oldest one is Autistic and his toddler years were absolute HADES. I was a stay at home mom, but my husband was gone traveling for work all the time, so I was also a single mother.

My late mother in law qot me interested in quilting cause she knew I was going to go crazy with all the boys at home, one in various stage of scream all the time. I looked at it like a job at first. I would ONLY do it after the kids were in bed, but then started bringing it out an hour or so each afternoon when Noggin played Blue's Clues for an hour. It was the only show in which all 3 boys would just sit there quietly mesmorized.

I worked an hour each day and one each night and just treated it like a job at first. Something I HAD to do. I didn't have anyone close to watch the kids and play dates were out of the question with the issues my eldest had. I came so I loved it so much I hated when my hour was up and looked at the clock throughout the evening waiting on bed time. Quickly it became something I wanted to do and not had to do. It was one of the first ways I was able to get some time to myself which is something important for every mom to have. It's a way of taking care of yourself too. Eventually, I picked up hand quilting so I could do it while sitting in the living room with the boys when they were older.

Ironically enough, I got a lot more done then than I do now. But now, whenever I do have my stuff out, all 3 boys are always interested in what I'm doing and sometimes it'll end up that I have little (well is 5 foot tall still little?) quilt inspectors that go through the process with me.

I have two boys interested in sewing on their own and I've taught them it's not just a girl thing, even though I do not personally know any men quilters, but the one's on here have been great inspiration to me to encourage my boys.

Me too, the kids just want to be with you, so I gave up and didn't sew much till my kids were in school. Some people have better ways to do it but that was the best for me.